Check out Hardboiled - a stopmotion film about crime-fighting food

The other day I received an email from my cousin Jan. She is an Executive Producer for Hornet Films, a New York-based studio that produces animation shorts and stop-motion films.

Jan's email asked for support for a new project a Hornet director is working on: Hardboiled, a stop-motion film about crime-fighting food. According to the Hardboiled IndieGoGo page,

"The 20 minute film is shot entirely in stop motion and each character, set piece, and prop has been built by hand right here in DUMBO, Brooklyn."

Here is the trailer:

This looks so cool and I know someone involved in it. Which is even cooler. But look at all the detail and all the work being done there.

So if you can, click the IndieGoGo link above and support the project. Or maybe just watch the trailer and spread the word.

Animating automobile aggression

On occasion, I've been known to be a bit aggressive on the road. I'm not a bad driver, by any means. I know, everyone says that, but I've never been in an accident (knock on the web equivalent of wood) that wasn't a slight bumper tap. The only time I have ever needed to involve auto insurance was when my truck was broken into.

But I do have a few speeding tickets. Ok, more than a few. Eleven at last count. All in Florida. Three or four in Hillsborough County and one each in several other counties.

So with that in mind, and as an avid fan of rapid movement, I am always interested when art depicts the driving experience. Especially if their depiction of driving is like my real-life driving. Like this new cartoon by Nate Theis entitled "Driving" (h/t CartoonBrew).


DRIVING from Nate Theis on Vimeo.

In the Cartoon Brew interview, Theis admits to being influenced by this classic Goofy cartoon from the 1950s. Good to see little has changed on the roads in 50 years.

New music animosity is nothing new

I was recently tuned in to this interesting YouTube video made by Rolling Stone Italy bemoaning Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and promoting rock 'n' roll.



What the video falls to realize however, is that rock 'n' roll wasn't America's first "rebel" music. Not even close. That would be jazz. Check out these quotes from a 2000 PBS article on a then-upcoming Jazz broadcast.

When the new sound of jazz first spread across America in the early twentieth-century, it left delight and controversy in its wake. The more popular it became, the more the liberating and sensuous music was criticized by everyone and everything from carmaker Henry Ford to publications like the Ladies Home Journal and The New York Times. Yet jazz survived.

And ...

Jazz was different because it broke the rules -- musical and social. It featured improvisation over traditional structure, performer over composer, and black American experience over conventional white sensibilities.

Perhaps what we are seeing with EDM - especially if it grows into the mainstream - is the opposite of jazz. Not so much in race, as EDM is more white than black, or in structure - as EDM can be very much improv - but in the performer versus composer battle. EDM is more about the composition than the performance. Sure, some concerts have lights and smoke and other gimmicks, but the eyes are not on the performer as much as the environment. While Jazz turned the bandleader into the center of attention, who stared at Mozart while the orchestra was playing? Interestingly, I recently saw this Disney cartoon from 1935 depicting a contemporary for the time Jazz vs Classical battle. While the Simpsons recently re-made it, I wonder how it would go if remade by Rolling Stone Italy.

 

Obama loves Pokemon

The federal government shutdown is causing a lot of pain for many. For others, it is the source of conflict and dispute. For enemies of the state, it is creating opportunity. For most, it is the source of frustration.

For the creative-minded geniuses at FilmCow, it is an opportunity to create a hilarious South Park-like animated short bringing to light President Obama's love of Pokemon cards. To be honest, I didn't think Pokemon cards were still a thing.

Charlie Brown: The Last Lovable Loser

The economy is in the crapper.

People fight and kill over religion.

Gas prices are high.

You still can't pee on the Alamo.

But at least you're not Charlie Brown.



You know, sometimes I think the fact that Charlie Brown was such a lovable loser was good for society back in the day. There aren't any new lovable losers anymore. There are characters that keep failing and make a show of it or ones that act out to fight their oppressors - they would have fought Lucy or punched her in the nose. But they don't have the grace of Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown isn't a bad guy, he is just a guy who didn't win.

And no one gave him a trophy just for showing up, either. He went home empty handed.

Then he tried again.

Boba Fett catches a Roadrunner

I found this picture on the DeathStar PR Facebook page. Not sure where they got it from, but I think it is absolutely hilarious. Sometimes you gotta say "Screw Acme, I'm going with a professional".

Learning Comedy Part 9 - Dissecting Peanuts

Today, I'm going to finally wrap up the dissecting, analyzing, and taking apart of my favorite pieces of humor by taking apart, analyzing, and dissecting the legendary Peanuts comic strip.

For over 50 years, creator Charles Schultz entertained readers with the Peanuts cast. The strip ran in thousands of newspapers, was made into anthologies, and into cartoons and movies such as "Charlie Brown's Christmas" and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".  There is absolutely no question Peanuts is a staple of 20th Century American culture.

Here are a few of my favorite Peanuts comics as found on Comics.com.

1)  Snoopy ponders a bird's career:

Subject/ Target: Career aspirations

Why it's funny: The humor is in the twist at the end. While Snoopy is caught up in the drama of Woodstock's career path, Woodstock himself is ambivalent. Woodstock's ambivalence carries over to Snoopy in the final panel as Snoopy expresses both Woodstock's attitude and his own change in perception.

2) Snoopy and the Universe

Subject/ Target: Life

Why it's funny: In this comic, it is Snoopy who is ambivalent. While Lucy discusses Snoopy's place in the universe, Snoopy listens, and instead of getting depressed that his actions won't matter, he does the one action he thinks will give the most pleasure at the moment - sleep. The humor is in the twist in the third panel. The reader knows Snoopy will reaction to Lucy's discussion, but they don't know how. Then there is a relief when Snoopy doesn't overreact or panic, and instead takes it in stride.

3) Charlie Brown and Happiness

Subject/Target: Sports and life

Why it's funny: Charlie Brown is the ultimate sympathetic figure in comic strips. Nothing, whether it is kicking a football or his relationship with the red-haired girl, goes his way. The humor is that readers feel superior to Charlie Brown because, compared to him, their lives are not that bad. They sympathize with him and then, when things get worse, they laugh at his fictional tragedy. In this strip, the reader roots for Charlie Brown, and then when things don't work out via a sports analogy, he becomes sympathetic and through that sympathy he becomes comical.

Learning the funny from Garfield

Over my Christmas holiday I was watching a lot of children's programming, as someone does when in the company of a 3-year old. One of the shows that came on between viewings of "Nightmare Before Christmas" and episodes of "Word World" was an animated Garfield movie entitled "Garfield's Fun Fest".

Although at first I wasn't interested, this computer-generated Garfield movie quickly caught my attention when they introduced a magic lake where creatures go to learn to be funny. By dousing themselves in this mystical water their sense of humor heightened to an exemplary degree and they could laugh and joke and entertain anyone.

Of course, being that I am trying to learn the art of stand-up comedy, I quickly started paying attention. Although I'm pretty sure no such lake exists for humans, maybe there would be some small nugget of information that I could take from Garfield's quest and apply to my own journey to comic greatness.

I was surprised to find that hidden in the movie was every basic instruction I learned in comedy school. From knowing your audience, to stretching your imagination, to making fun of yourself, to having confidence. It was all there. I didn't need to go to comedy school at all. Where was this movie months ago?

And so, for your entertainment, here is the greatest comedic tutorial I know of - so far. And years from now, when I win the Grammy for "Funniest Person in the Universe" and thank Garfield, you'll know why.

Metalocalypse and My Top Cartoons of the Last Few Years

In the last year, I've grown into a bit of a cartoon fan. I've been watching more and more animation than I ever have. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because the subject matter is usually less serious than anything else on television. Maybe it's because cartoons are where slapstick humor has gone. Maybe it is the creative vibe. Or maybe it is because cartoons are short and my attention span is slowly dwindling.

Whatever the reason, I have bought a bunch of cartoon DVD box sets lately. Probably my best purchase was the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5. Absolutely classic Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the rest of the gang. And the bonus features tell a lot about the stories behind the cartoons. I never paid much attention to the directors, artists, and musical score writers before. Now I am a much more astute cartoon watcher.

I am discussing cartoons because tonight I finally finished another one of my better buys: Season 2 of the Adult Swim cartoon series Metalocalpyse (I finished Season 1 a few weeks ago).  For those who aren't hip to Metalocalpyse, it is the story of Dethklok, the world's greatest, most prolific death metal band. Think Spinal Tap meets He-Man meets Star Wars meets a grown-up version of Beavis and Butt-head. Absolutely hilarious.

(Apparently Season 3 just started a few weeks ago as well. This is good. However, I don't have DVR capability and I am absolutely terrible at timing my life around non-sports TV shows. I'll just wait until the box set comes out.)

By the way, Dethklok is also a great example of a cross-media venture. Not only are they the main characters in the Metalocalypse cartoon, but they are also a real band who are on tour right now. Of course, the faces are different, but the music performed on the show is the same. And that is a great way to keep the core fans interested. Kinda like the Monkees meets the Gorillaz, only cooler. Check out a recent interview with creator Brandon Small where he talks about this exact premise.

Anyway, having finished the Metalocalypse box sets, I started thinking about what I would classify as my favorite cartoon series. For someone born in the 70's, this was a tough question. I grew up on Scooby Doo, the USA Cartoon Express, the aforementioned He-Man, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and of course the classic Looney Tunes and Disney serials from previous generations. So I narrowed the question down to the last few years.

(I can do that. It was my question, asked to me. I could put whatever qualifier I wanted on it. Maybe someday I will expand the parameters, but not now.)

So, in no particular order:

• The Boondocks


• Metalocalypse


• Afro Samurai


• Phineus and Ferb

I know you are asking, "Phineus and Ferb, really?". Yeah, really. Those kids are hilarious. I can't watch cartoons full of action and adventure and death and destruction all the time, you know.